Sub. S.B. 117 Approved by the Full Senate and Moves to the House

As you know, Senate Bill 117 was introduced in the Ohio Senate on March 15, 2007.  The bill takes local cable/video franchise authority away from Ohio municipalities and replaces it with very little authority by the Ohio Director of Commerce. 

As a result of opposition mounted by local governments and their organizations, some improvements were made to S.B. 117 in the Senate Energy & Public Utilities Committee and Sub. S.B. 117 was approved by the Committee on May 8, 2007.

On May 9, 2007, the full Senate approved Substitute S.B. 117.  Despite the amendments in Sub. S.B. 117, there are still serious problems with the bill.  Although many Senators expressed reservations about the bill on the floor, only 4 voted "no" on Sub S.B. 117. 

Sub S.B. 117 is now before the Public Utilities Committee in the House of Representatives.  Hearings are scheduled to begin May 23^rd and continue over the next several weeks. We expect the bill is being fast-tracked to avoid more amendments, and that it is highly likely that the bill will also be approved by the House.  Thus unless vetoed by the Governor, Sub. S.B. 117 will become law.

Although not everything affects everyone in the same way, we believe Sub. S.B. 117 has serious implications for each and every one of you, and much more work is needed before the bill will be good for Ohio municipalities, educational institutions and consumers. 

• Sub. S.B. 117 still permits incumbent cable operators to abandon current franchise agreements — even without competition — in violation of the Ohio and United States Constitutions.
• Sub. S.B. 117 still legalizes redlining or "cherry-picking" in Ohio by taking away the right of communities to impose reasonable community build-out/universal access requirements on cable operators or video service providers using the public Right-of-Way to provide service.
• Under Sub. S.B.117 the revenues included in Franchise Fee calculations still fall short of what many municipalities receive today.  Although the original bill has been amended to permit local communities to elect to receive franchise fees on net advertising revenues, significant revenue categories like home shopping commissions and subscriber late fees are still omitted from franchise fees.  Thus S.B. 117 will cost most cities thousands of dollars annually despite the improvements.
• Sub. S.B. 117 still severely limits your ability to audit franchise fee payments.
• Sub. S.B. 117 allows some PEG channels to be moved off of the basic tier — where they can be viewed by all subscribers — to upper (extra cost) tiers with a more limited audience.
• Under Sub. S.B. 117 some PEG channels placed on upper tiers may be reclaimed by cable operators/video providers.
• Sub. S.B. 117 terminates all franchise-based funding for PEG Access at the end of your franchise or January 1, 2012, whichever comes first.
• Sub. S.B. 117 allows cable operators to terminate all Institutional Network obligations under current franchises at the end of your franchise or January 1, 2012, whichever comes first.
• Sub. S.B. 117 still fails to provide for appropriate local enforcement of customer service standards.

CABLE & TELEPHONE INDUSTRY PERSONNEL AND LOBBYISTS ARE TELLING OHIO LEGISLATORS THAT ALL OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ISSUES HAVE BEEN RESOLVED.

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU LET YOUR HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES KNOW THAT THIS ISN'T TRUE AND THAT YOU STILL HAVE GREAT CONCERNS ABOUT SUB. S.B. 117 (AND ASK YOUR FRIENDS, CONSTITUENTS AND NEIGHBORS TO DO THE SAME!!)

You can find your Representative at:  http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp
 

For more information on these issues, please contact: